KUWAIT: Leading opposition lawmaker Riyadh A-Adasani said he has prepared a grilling to Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and what remains is just to put the date on it. Adasani said he is not part of any deal with the government and that he will not wait for the highly anticipated ruling of the Constitutional Court on May 3. The lawmaker had in the past repeatedly threatened to file to grill the prime minister over the issue of revoked citizenship, hiking electricity and petrol prices and other issues.

Adasani did not reveal the basis or the issues of the grilling but he reiterated that he is not a part of any deal between MPs and the government. He specifically criticized the lawmakers of the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) saying that they are only four MPs and should not lead the house in striking deals with the government and the assembly speaker. Adasani said that he believes there was a deal between the government, the speaker and ICM lawmakers about rejecting a request to lift the immunity of MP Jamaan Al-Harbash and Nayef Al-Merdas so they could be tried over charges of insulting the Amir.

The request to lift their immunity was rejected in a tight vote in the Assembly in Tuesday with 26 supporting the request and 26 voting against it. Adasani said that he is not afraid of filing the grilling against the prime minister, adding that he is not worried about the possibility of scrapping the national assembly by the constitutional court on May 3. Head of the national assembly panel on alien behaviors MP Mohammad Hayef said yesterday that his committee debated the spread of drugs in the society and found out that establishing a special department for fighting drugs has become a necessity.

By B Izzak